Broadway, Hollywood and Tombstone

This Week
Let's Go to the Movies
Spicer Hearing witness H.F. Sills
Writers Notebook:

American Theater Broadway to Hollywood
The legendary theatrical producer David Belasco coined the term playwright. When asked why playwright and not dramatist, Belasco said, 'Simply because it's the proper term, 'Playwright's a workman.. We say wheelwright, shipwright – why not playwright? A wright takes the materials he finds and builds them into coherent shape.' ...'The materials the playwright works with are human thoughts, passions and deeds. These are the bricks he works with, the rock he must build upon is human nature.'
Scores of theater people that worked with Belasco later transitioned into film. Among that talent was Lionel Barrymore, Jane Cowl, Judith Anderson, Mary Pickford, David Warfield and perhaps the most famous was C.B. DeMille.

Mary Pickford rose to stardom under the guidance of David Belasco and later became one of our most popular film stars. And as most performers do Mary ran into a rough patch while at Paramount. Adolph Zukor chose a couple of films for his star that were rejected by the public. They didn't approve of the East Indian girl she played in 'Less than the Dust' or her Scottish lass in 'The Pride of the Clan.' Both films were well made, but Mary's fans didn't accept her playing the parts that were written for her. They wanted her to be the American Girl they'd grown to love.
The studio quickly recognized their error, and found a play that fit Mary's style called 'The Poor Little Rich Girl.'
Mary asked them to hire her friend Frances Marion to write the screenplay, which they did. The film was made at the Ft. Lee Studio in New Jersey and
Maurice Tourneur directed the picture. During the filming of the movie Mary and Frances came up with some pretty wild comedy scenes that were neither in the original play or the scrip Frances had written. However the new material seemed to fit at the time and the director reluctantly went along with their ideas.
But once the film was cut, edited and played -- the studio personal thought it was awful. Putrid was the actual word bantered about, and they were on the verge of pulling the film for fear that if shown it would hurt Mary's career.
They sent it back to the cutting room and sharpened the comedy by eliminating a few scenes. And eventually they decided to release it but they were afraid if they let the press preview the film they'd shower it with unfavorable reviews and end the run before it had a chance for the public to weigh in.
They opened the film with no publicity at the Strand on Broadway. Mary wanted to see the audience reaction, good or bad and cajoled Frances Marion into going along with her to the opening.
Mary put on dark glasses, a wide brimmed hat and the two of them stole their way down Broadway to the theater and climbed to the top row of the gallery where they could not be recognized.
Marion said they were gripped by nausea and at Mary's first entrance on the screen she sank deeper into her seat and gave a weak moan.
'It wasn't long before we awakened to the fact that everyone was laughing at incidents which we had come to believe were pointless. As the picture progressed, the theater seemed to rock with laughter. Applause sounded like thunder at the conclusion of some of the scenes, and if lightening had zigzagged from the ceiling we would not have been more startled. Our hearts stood still. So did the audience through the sad scenes of the picture, silence finally broken by soft handkerchiefs and noses being blown.'
'Frances, it's a hit!' Mary gasped.
'Throwing discretion to the wind she pulled off her glasses and wept. At that moment an usher spotted her and a few minutes later the audience discovered that America's Sweetheart was among them.'
(To be continued)

'Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone'
Excerpt from Spicer hearing – Witness H.F. Sills continues.
District Attorney Price questioned the witness. "When did you arrive in Tombstone?"
"I came here on the 25th of last month.”
"What kind of transportation did you use to get to Tombstone?"
"I came here on the Wells Fargo's express wagon with the driver and one other passenger."
"How can you be sure you arrived in Tombstone on the 25th of October last?"
"I am as positive I came here on the 25th of October on that wagon as I am of anything."
"Did you come directly from Tucson to Tombstone?"
"I stayed in Benson only about a half hour."
Price played with his yellow pencil and paced back and forth. Then he turned to the witness and asked sharply, "Now, Mr. Sills, on the day of the difficulty, how many parties were standing near the OK Corral that you speak of?"
"There were four or five men standing together."
"Where did you next see the same parties?"
"I saw them on Fremont Street between Third and Fourth Street, near the corner of Third, standing in a vacant lot."
"How many men were there at that time?”
"There were five men in the party when I saw them on Fremont Street."
"Where was the Earp party at that time?"
"I saw the Earp's and Doc Holliday when they went down to Fremont Street. I was right behind them. I went behind them as far as the post office; I then crossed the street in front of the courthouse. That is as near as I was to the scene of the difficulty.”
"Where were you located during the shooting?"
"I was standing close to this building and then stepped back into the hall when the shooting became general.”
"Where did the Earp's and Holliday come from, as they walked toward the Clanton’s and McLowry’s?"
"The Earp's and Holliday started from the corner of Fourth and Allen Street."
"Did you see a shotgun among any of the Earp party?"
"I saw the marshal pick up a shotgun when they started from along side the building and hand it to Doc Holliday. Doc Holliday put it under his coat and handed the marshal his cane."
An exasperated district attorney paced back and forth collecting his thoughts. "During the time you were working in the machine shop and running on the U.P. and A.T. & S.F. roads, had you a nickname, and if so, what was it?"
A wide grin played over Sill's face as he rubbed his bald head and chuckled. "Yes, it was Curly, and some folks still call me that."
"Where do you lay off at and what place do you stop in New Mexico?"
"I lay off at Las Vegas and stop at my own house."
"I have no further questions for this witness, You Honor," Price said as he turned and walked dejectedly to his seat.
Spicer looked to the defense bench and T.J. Drum said, "We have no further questions, Your Honor."
Judge Spicer excused Mr. Sills and then with a broad gesture said, "Next witness."
(To be continued)

Writers Notebook:
Author of such novels as Stardust, Back Street, Humoresque and Young at Heart Fannie Hurst said she wrote six hours every day and rarely accomplished anything until the last hour or so of her work day. It took her six to eight weeks to complete a story and one and a half to two years to finish a novel. She always had a character before she had a plot, and she let the character determine the plot.
Ms. Hurst's system was very similar to William Faulkner's. He said about his novels, 'It begins with a character and once he stands on his feet and begins to move all I do is trot along behind him with a paper and pencil trying to keep up long enough to put down what he says and does.'
There is nothing mysterious about that. It's simply your sixth sense/subconscious mind putting it all together and tossing it up to your conscious. That way the creative side of your brain gets actively involved in the process.
Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter.
Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels Tungee's Gold, The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle. www.tombarnes39.com www.tombarnes39.com www.tombarnes39.com
www.RocktheTower.com
http://thehurricanehunter.blogspot.com

John Gilbert and L.B. Mayer in Hollywood Feud

This Week
Let's Go to the Movies
Testimony from Spicer Hearing
Writers Notebook: Tungee's Gold Review

Hollywood Silents 1914-1929 (Part 15)


The biggest star to fall out of favor with the public, as a direct result of sound, was John Gilbert. Gilbert's talkie debut was an MGM all-star extravaganza, 'The Hollywood Revue of 1929.' Joan Crawford, Marion Davies, Norma Shearer, John Gilbert and many other MGM contract players participated. Gilbert and Shearer did a humorous version of the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet and while Gilbert's voice was not robust it was more than adequate.

The reviews for the film were excellent and 'The Hollywood Revue was a box-office smash. It was also nominated for best picture for the 1929/1930 Academy Awards.
John Gilbert's voice was not the real problem, it was a very large four picture contract with MGM and a personal feud with L.B. Mayer that did him in. Hollywood lore says that Gilbert while pitching a story idea to Mayer he made the comment that his mother was a whore. The pious Mayer was so enraged by the idea that he came over his desk and knocked Gilbert to the floor.
Of course it might have been pure drama on Gilbert's part but it's said that is what turned L.B. Mayer against John Gilbert.
Regarding the overall picture, good voice coaches and better sound technology could have saved a number of the silent film stars that were forced in to retirement by the advent of sound. Norma and Constance Talmadge, Mae Murray, Emil Jannings, Pola Negri, Ramon Novarro, Delores Del Rio, Vilma Blanky and even the 'It Girl' Clara Bow.
Two of John Gilbert's contract pictures made with sound were not good, 'Redemption' was just plain awful and 'His Glorious Night' was not too far behind. Those two turkey's just fueled the rumor going around Hollywood that Gilbert's voice wasn't good enough for 'Talkies.'
However, 'Way of the Sailor' directed by Sam Wood with Gilbert and Wallace Beery was an excellent film.
'The Phantom of Paris' was not a bad film and that might have been his final film at MGM had it not been for a picture starring Greta Garbo 'Queen Christina.' Garbo had enough clout to dismiss Lawrence Olivier as her co-star and replace him with Gilbert.
For video of Queen Christina Click Here

Screenwriter Frances Marion tells a story about a meeting at MGM to discuss another Garbo film 'Anna Karenina.'
'That Anna what-you-may-call-it would drive the public away from the box office!' A remark which started the banding back and forth of titles like Ping-Pong balls until a voice louder than the others cried, 'I've got a wow that'll bring 'em into the theater in droves.'
We bent forward eagerly until the voice rose on a high note: It's Heat.'
'Great!' ...'Never been used before'...'What do you think, Frances?”
'I think it would be a good ad for Dante's Inferno, but I'd hate to see on the billboards – Greta Garbo in Heat.'
They thought about it a bit longer and came up with the title 'Love.'
(To be continued)

'Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone'

Excerpt from Spicer hearing.


"DOC HOLLIDAY AND WYATT EARP ADMITTED TO BAIL." Headlined the morning's edition of the Tombstone Nugget.
Sills, the railroad engineer, would be back on the stand. Tom Fitch and T.J. Drum warned him to expect some rough and possibly embarrassing questions during his cross-examination. The prosecution had been rocked back on its heels by his testimony and they were not expected to take it lightly. "Just relax, Mr. Sills," was T. J's advice.
The district attorney went right to work in an effort to discredit the witness. The questions were simple enough, but designed to needle and eventually provoke ... Where were you born? How old are you? How long did you live this place or that? Why did you move?
Sills relaxed and looked straight at the prosecutor, undaunted by the abrasive nature in which the questions were framed.
The witness testified that he was born in Canada, lived in many locations up there, Belville being the last.
"Where did you go from there?" Price snapped.
"To Omaha, Nebraska."
"What did you do in Omaha and how long were you there?"
"I worked in the Union Pacific shops. I was in Omaha and on the line of the road between eight and nine years," Sills answered calmly.
"What business were you engaged in during that eight or nine years?"
Sills looked directly at the prosecutor and shook his head in disbelief -- he had just answered the question. He looked toward the defense table and shook his head. "I was an apprentice in the machine shop, a locomotive fireman on the road and then locomotive engineer."
"During the time you were serving your apprenticeship, name the person or persons who had charge of the machine shop?"
Sills apparently began to enjoy the nostalgia in recalling his past and instead of irritation, he began to answer the questions with enthusiasm. "Mr. Cogdon was general master mechanic and Mr. McConnell was foreman."
"About how long of that eight or nine years were you in the shop?"
"Three years."
"How much of the time did you run as fire and how much as engineer?" the determined prosecutor asked.
"About six years, I fired number 23 engine and run number 75.”
"Were your engines attached to freight or passenger trains?"
"Freight trains. I run the train to Grand Island and Omaha. I run between Cheyenne and Laramie and between Laramie and Rollins Springs."
"Who were the conductors on those trains?"
T.J. Drum shot to his feet and declared, "I object, Your Honor. This question is too remote as is this whole line of questioning.”
Spicer waved off the objection and quietly said, "Overruled." The judge was apparently fascinated with the railroad story, as was the gallery.
Sills furrowed his brow and said, "Frank Fuller was the one I remember best and there was another man named Kelly.”
"When and where did you last work for a railroad?"
"Las Vegas, New Mexico for the A.T. & S.F. running a freight between Las Vegas and Wallace ... I am still in the employ of the railroad. I left the line of that road the 19th of last month, went to Tucson and then here to Tombstone.”
"When did you arrive in Tombstone?"
"I came here on the 25th of last month.”
"What kind of transportation did you use to get to Tombstone?"
"I came here on the Wells Fargo's express wagon with the driver and one other passenger."
"How can you be sure you arrived in Tombstone on the 25th of October last?"
"I am as positive I came here on the 25th of October on that wagon as I am of anything." (To be continued)

Writers Notebook:
Excerpt: Tungee's Gold Review by Fran Lewis.
Greed makes people do many things that often go against their principles and beliefs. Taken further, greed can force a person to enter into a deal with the devil, even if the end result would cause harm or injury to others. Tungee’s Gold: The Legend of Ebo Landing is a unique story about a man who wanted to make his fortune by panning gold during the Gold Rush like so many other people.
The time period is the late 1800’s. This historically based novel brings the California Gold Rush and us back to 1851. Finding gold and staking their claims meant a person could create a life for themselves wherever they wanted.
Author Tom Barnes weaves a web of deceit, hate, deception and neatly ties up all of the lose ends. “I might be a prisoner now, but I will never become a slave.' ,” said King Kumi the king of the Ebo tribe.
May freedom ring for all and where it does not we need to fight and change it. This book is a must read for everyone and my pick for a number one book for 2010.
Fran Lewis: reviewer and the author of the Bertha Series of Children’s books and Memories are Precious my Alzheimer’s book.

For full review Click Here and go to Amazon Book page.

Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter.
Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels Tungee's Gold, The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
www.tombarnes39.com www.tombarnes39.com

www.RocktheTower.com

http://thehurricanehunter.blogspot.com

Hollywood Silents end with 'Broadway Melody'

This Week
Let's Go to the Movies
Wyatt Earp Testimony at Spicer Hearing
Writers Notebook:

Hollywood Silents 1914-1929 (Part 14)

Following the Jazz Singer's great success, Hollywood was forced to rethink the movie business, and how to deal with sound. Of course tradition dies hard and some wanted to hang onto what they had, and they said as much. 'The true art in motion pictures comes from the silent screen. We don't need those tinny noises intruding on our work.' Of course that dream would soon be crushed by reality. Sound, or talkies as they were called at the time, needed a lot of work. Technology lagged far behind vision and the transition from silent film to sound was not going to be easy.
If you had to pick the most troublesome year of that era it would be 1928. That was the year when the dreamers and visionaries finally got on the same page. And while Hollywood's future was bright the present was bleak. The scramble to get a sound system in place and technicians that were capable of transferring sound to the silver screen was not going to be easy.

In the production of the Jazz Singer Warner's had used a system called Vitaphone, which was sound recorded onto a disc and then synchronized with the film image to produce the sound.
Several films made in 1928 used the Vitaphone system Disraeli, The Lights of New York and Noah's Ark were among them.
Technically it wasn't practical and the various interested companies Westinghouse, GE, RCA and Western Electric were all working on various ways to build a sound system that could be installed, at a reasonable cost, into thousands of theaters.
The first to use a more logical system was Disney in the production of a cartoon called Steamboat Willy, which had a fully synchronized sound track with music, voices and sound effects recorded optically onto the film.
Of course it took time and a coordinated effort to put it all together on the production end as well installing the equipment into individual theaters. The audience was patient though and bought tickets to whatever Hollywood sent them.
During the development period of 1928 it was a mixed bag with some films presenting a combination of sound and silence.
MGM was first to produce a full length motion picture using sound, not just in bits and pieces but the complete film. Broadway Melody was that picture and it was a hit with the critics as well as the public.
Variety gave Melody a good review and also pointed out that during one of the dance numbers they noted excellent workmanship on camera and mike following the principal dancers along the dance floor to pick up the conversation.
Broadway Melody won the Oscar for best picture for 1928/1929.
Excerpt from Broadway Melody Click Here

The Love Parade was a Paramount musical with Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald and directed by Ernst Lubitsch. Parade was one of the early musicals and it was a hit.
Variety said, 'In Jeanette MacDonald, ingenue prima donna from Broadway, Chevalier has an actress opposite him that all but steals the picture.'
Love Parade was nominated for best picture 1929/1930.
Fox Films explored the great outdoors with their offering in 1929 of In Old Arizona directed by Irving Cummings and Raoul Walsh starring Warner Baxter.
In Old Arizona was nominated for best picture of 1928/1929.
Alibi was a United Artist film that starred Chester Morris, one of the early gangster films that won applause from the public as well as the industry.
Alibi got a best picture nomination for 1928/1929

All Quiet on the Western Front was produced as a silent film by Universal Pictures was a big production film that ran 152 minutes. The main writers came from the New York Theater, Maxwell Anderson and George Abbott, the star was Lew Ayers.
Anderson and Abbott wrote great titles for the film, which goes to prove that good writing makes good motion pictures.
All Quiet on the Western Front, even as a silent film, won an Oscar for best picture in 1930.
(To be Continued)

'Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone”

Excerpt from Spicer hearing: Wyatt Earp continues his testimony.

"When we told them to throw up their hands, Claiborne held up his left hand and then broke and ran and I never seen him afterwards until late in the afternoon. I never drew my pistol or made a motion to shoot until after Billy Clanton and Frank McLowry drew their pistols. If Tom McLowry was unarmed, I did not know it. I believe he was armed and fired two shots at our party before Holliday, who had the shotgun, fired and killed him.
I never fired at Ike Clanton, even after the shooting commenced, because I thought he was unarmed. I believed then and believe now from the acts I have stated and the threats I have related and other threats communicated to me by different persons as having been made by Tom McLowry, Frank McLowry and Ike Clanton that these men, last named, had formed a conspiracy to murder my brothers Morgan and Virgil, Doc Holliday and myself. I believe I would have been legally and morally justified in shooting any of them on sight, but I did not do so nor attempt to do so -- I sought no advantage when I went as Deputy Marshall to help to disarm them. I did not intend to fight unless it became necessary in self-defense. When Billy Clanton and Frank McLowry drew their pistols, I knew it was a fight for life and I drew and fired in defense of my own life and the lives of my brothers and Doc Holliday."
Wyatt looked up for a moment and glared toward the prosecution bench. Then in a biting tone said, "The testimony of Isaac Clanton that I ever said anything to him about robbery, or of money going on the stage, or any improper communication whatever with any criminal enterprise -- is a tissue of lies from beginning to end."
Wyatt took a sip of water. “In relation to the conversations that I had with Ike Clanton, Frank McLowry and Joe Hill, they were four or five different times and they were all held in the back yard of the Oriental Saloon. I told Ike Clanton, in one of the conversations, that there were some parties here in town that were saying to give Doc Holliday the worst of it. There seemed to be some suspicion that he knew something about the attempted robbery and the killing of Bud Philpot. I figured if I could catch Leonard, Head and Crane I could prove to the citizens that Doc knew nothing of it."
There was a din of whispers in the gallery, rehashing the rumor about Doc's involvement in the Philpot killing.
Judge Spicer banged his gavel. "Order in the court."
Wyatt said, "In following the trail of the robbers we struck it at the scene of the attempted robbery and never lost the trail and hardly a foot track from the time we started from Drew's ranch on the San Pedro until we got to Helm's ranch in the Dragoons. After following about eighty miles down the San Pedro River we captured one of the men that was supposed to be in with them -- a man by the name of King. Then we crossed the Catalina Mountains to within fifteen miles of Tucson, following their trail around the
foot of the mountains after they had crossed over and followed the trail to Tres Alamos and then to Helm's ranch. We then started out from there and got on their trail.
They had stolen fifteen or twenty head of stock to cover their tracks. Virgil Earp, Morgan Earp, R.H. Paul, Deputy Sheriff Breckenridge, Sheriff John Behan and one or two others still followed the trail up into New Mexico. The trail never led south from Helm's ranch as Ike Clanton has stated. We used every effort that we could to capture those men. I was out ten days, Virgil and Morgan Earp were out sixteen days and we did all we could to catch those men. If it had not been for myself and Morgan Earp, they would not have got King, as he started to run when we rode up to his hiding place and was making for a big patch of brush on the river and would have gotten into it, if it had not been for us."
Wyatt looked up at the judge and then out at the gallery.
"That is the end of my testimony and the facts, as I know them." Then he reached inside his coat pocket and took out two legal size sheets of paper. "I would like to introduce these documents, one sent me from Dodge City since my arrest. I wish to attach to this statement and mark it Exhibit A. And the second one sent to me from Wichita County which I wish to be marked Exhibit B."
"Your Honor, prosecution objects to the addition of that exhibit to his statement, as it is not a statement of the defendant but a statement of other people made after the alleged commission of this crime." Price was livid and shaking his fist.
Judge Spicer calmly said, "Objection overruled."
The letters containing a score of character witnesses from Dodge City and Wichita was filed and officially entered into the record.
Judge Spicer was ready to adjourn for the day, but looked toward the prosecution table and questioned, "Do you folks want to cross-examine the witness?" When he got no immediate answer the judge rapped his gavel and announced, "Court is adjourned until nine o'clock tomorrow morning."
(To be continued)

Writers Notebook:

We’ve talked about how important the subconscious mind is to our writing experience. Shakespeare, Twain and Hemingway used that part of the brain in their creative writing. Here’s another example by William Faulkner. Now he doesn’t mention the subconscious, but he points us in that direction when he tells about his method of writing a novel. ‘It begins with a character, and once he stands on his feet and begins to move, all I can do is trot along behind him with a paper and pencil trying to keep up long enough to put down what he says and does.’

Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter.
Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels Tungee's Gold, The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.

www.tombarnes39.com

www.RocktheTower.com

http://thehurricanehunter.blogspot.com

Lucky Lindy, The Jazz Singer and Oscar

This Week
Let's Go to the Movies
Wyatt Earp Testimony at Spicer hearing
Writers Notebook: A word from Stephen King

Hollywood Silent 1914-1929 (Part 13)

The Year was 1927
Charles Lindbergh flew his spirit of St Louis from New York to Paris nonstop making aviation history.
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences was formed in Hollywood.
Warner Brothers produced the Jazz Singer, which became a big hit when Al Jolson broke into song belting out Mammy, then as he finished the last note he turned to the audience and said, 'You ain't heard nothin' yet, folks.'
That last line said it all – audience's cried, cheered and made the picture a run away success.
At that point even the most stubborn silent film stars and their producers had to admit defeat and accept the fact that talkies were the way of the future.
But that wasn't all that happened in Hollywood that year. The 'It Girl' Clara Bow replaced 'The Vamp' Theda Bara as Hollywood's female icon.
The star system was taking hold and films were becoming more sophisticated. That isn't to say that slap-stick comedy was being tossed aside, it wasn't, it was just that drama was replacing melodrama as the storytelling staple.
These trends in movies were reflected in the pages of the show business paper 'Daily Variety' including its review section.

John Gilbert had been around since 1915 when he showed up at Inceville in Santa Monica and started work as an extra. Gilbert eventually worked some as an actor, but he also wrote stories and sold them to the production company.
His climb up the ladder to stardom got a good boost when he played opposite Mary Pickford in 'Heart of the Hills' in 1919. He later got good press from the picture 'He Who Gets Slapped' when he got co star billing along with Lon Chaney and Norma Shearer.
'The Big Parade' was a war picture done on a grand scale and in Variety's review they said, '...John Gilbert's performance is a superb thing...'
Gilbert's leading man and star status were secured when he was co starred with Greta Garbo in 'Flesh and the Devil.' That was followed by 'Love,' an MGM picture directed by Edmund Goulding from a Tolstoy novel, screenplay by Frances Marion, and starring John Gilbert and Greta Garbo.
Ernst Lubitsch was just beginning his Hollywood career that would eventually lead him to be known as a director's director. His 1927 film was the Student Prince at MGM starring Raymond Navarro and Norma Shearer.
Janet Gaynor did Sunrise for Fox where she got good press coverage and name recognition in her rise to stardom.
Wings was a Paramount film directed by William Wellman with Clara Bow, Charles (Buddy) Rogers and Richard Arlen with Gary Cooper playing a small role.
Wings was an aviation film about World War I, and Wellman used a photographic style that even holds up today. Wings was the first film to receive the coveted Oscar presented by the Academy of Motion Pictures for best film of 1927.
(To be continued)

'Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone'

Excerpt from Spicer hearing: Wyatt Earp continues his testimony.

As the court settled in for the afternoon session, Doc looked at the prosecution side and smiled at what he saw. The cocky arrogance that had been present on the day Spicer opened the hearings seemed to be missing.
Wyatt continued his testimony. "I got up next day, October 26th, afore noon. Ned Boyle came and told me that he had met Ike Clanton on Allen Street near the telegraph office and that Ike was "on it" and he said, 'As soon as those damned Earps make their appearance on the street today, the ball will open. We are here to make a fight and we are looking for the sons-a-bitches.’
Wyatt said that by the time he got dressed and went down town, Virgil and Morgan had arrested Ike Clanton and taken him to Judge Wallace's court. He followed on to the courtroom and sat down.
"Ike Clanton looked over at me and said, 'I will get even with all of you for this, if I had a six-shooter now I would make a fight with all of you. Morgan Earp then said to him, 'If you want to make a fight right bad, I'll give you this,' at the same time offering Ike Clanton his own, Ike's six-shooter. Ike Clanton started up to take it and Campbell, the deputy sheriff pushed him back in his seat, said he would not allow any fuss.
Virgil Earp was not in the courtroom any of this time. Virgil came there later and told me he had been out looking for Judge Wallace. I was tired of being threatened by Ike Clanton and his gang. I believed from what they had said to me and others and from their movements, that they intended to assassinate me the first chance they had and I thought that if I had to fight for my life with them I had better make them face me in an open fight.
So I said to Ike Clanton who was then sitting about eight feet from me, you damned dirty cow thief, you have been threatening our lives and I know it and I think I would be justified in shooting you down in any place I would meet you. But if you are anxious to fight, I will go anywhere on earth to fight you. He replied, 'All right, I will see you after I get through here, I only want four feet of ground to fight."'
Wyatt looked disgustedly toward Ike before he continued.
"I walked out and then just outside of the courtroom and near the justice's office I met Tom McLowry. He came up to me and said to me, 'If you want to fight, I will fight with you anywhere.' I supposed at the time that he had heard what had just happened between Ike Clanton and myself. I knew he had threatened me and I felt just as I did about Ike Clanton. That if the fight had to come I had better have it come when I had an-even show to defend myself. So I said to him, all right make your stand right here and at the same time slapped him on the face with my left hand and drew my pistol with my right. He had a pistol in plain sight on his right hip, in his pants, but made no move to draw it. I said to him, jerk your gun and use it. He made no reply. I hit him on the head with my six-shooter and walked away down to Haffords Corner. I went into Haffords and got a cigar and came out and stood by the door."
Wyatt took a deep breath and said deliberately. "Pretty soon after, I saw Tom and Frank McLowry and William Clanton.
They passed me and went down Fourth Street to the gunsmith shop. I followed down to the shop. When I got there, Frank McLowry’s horse was standing on the sidewalk with his head in the door of the gunsmith shop. I took the horse by the bit, as I was Deputy City Marshall and commenced to back him off the sidewalk. Tom and Frank McLowry and Billy Clanton came to the door; Billy laid his hand on his six-shooter,
Frank McLowry took a hold of the horses bridle. I said you will have to get this horse off the sidewalk. Frank McLowry backed him off on the street. Ike Clanton came up about that time and they all walked into the gunsmith shop. I saw them loading cartridges into their belts. They came out of the shop and walked along Fourth Street to the corner of Allen. I followed them and then they went down Allen to Dunbar's corral."
Doc followed every step and paid close attention as Wyatt narrated a full account of the lawmen’s assembly at the corner of Fourth and Allen. Wyatt related the posses march up to the post office and then west on Fremont Street. There was a brief encounter with Sheriff Behan near Bauer's Butcher Shop and then the short walk to confront the cowboys at the vacant lot.”
(To be continued)


Writers Notebook:
Inside the front flap of my writer’s notebook are several notes; among them is one that always makes me stop and think.
‘What is the single most important piece of advice you’ve ever gotten about writing?’
I’m not quite sure, but this note contained in that same flap is high on the list. Stephen King once said, ‘I write about four hours a day – first draft – just write. Let it all hang out – don’t stop for misspelled words – punctuation – nothing. Let the passion and heat of the moment take charge. And don’t rewrite that same day. Write in am and rewrite in pm – no, no, no. Leave it alone, at least overnight.’

Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter.
Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels Tungee's Gold, The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.www.tombarnes39.com
www.RocktheTower.com
http://thehurricanehunter.blogspot.com

Rudolph Valentino, Wyatt Earp and Neil Simon

This Week
Let's Go to the Movies
Wyatt Earp Testimony at Spicer hearing
Writers Notebook: Conflict

Hollywood Silents 1914-1929 (Part 12)
Rudolph Valentino had come a long way since his extra jobs in the late teens. He worked hard at becoming a movie actor and was making some progress when on several films he was singled out and given bit parts as a dancer. But his big break came in 1921 when Metro executive and screenwriter June Mathis pushed for and was allowed to use the director of her choice Rex Ingram and actor Rudolph Valentino in a screenplay she'd written, 'The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.'
Among the supporting cast in Four Horsemen was Alice Terry and Wallace Beery. Valentino's performance in the picture catapulted him to stardom and he followed up with four more films that year with all of them getting good reviews. Another film that added to his career was his portrayal of Armand to Nazimova's Camille.
Variety gave the film a good review with special attention on Armand.
Valentino had become an overnight sensation because he appealed to ladies sexual fantasies, something they hadn't seen in other male stars. Some of the male journalist made snide remarks about his masculinity, but the ladies ignored those cheap shots and lined up in droves to buy tickets for the next Valentino film.
Screenwriter Frances Marion and her husband, silent cowboy star, Fred Thompson lived near Valentino's residence, Falcons Lair, and were very close friends with the star. They all rode horses in the morning and during those rides they had long rambling conversations.
Frances Marion said, 'We talked freely about his latent dreams and hopes for the future. He was intelligent enough to realize the short span of an actors popularity on the screen, especially in such feverish roles as he was playing, and Rudy was gravely concerned. When he discussed buying land in California so he could turn to farming in later life, we recommended the grape-growing valleys in Napa or Sonoma counties where the soil was fertile and the wooded hills would remind him of Italy.'
“Now I'll have something to look forward to in my old age,” said Rudy with a sigh of contentment.'
Unfortunately Rudolph Valentino didn't reach his old age.
'The Son of the Sheik,' screenplay by Frances Marion, directed by George Fitzmaurice and co starring Vilma Blanky was his last.
'The Son of the Sheik' was just opening and Valentino was in New York to promote the film.
He had been suffering from stomach pain but ignored suggestions to see a doctor. However, he was eventually hospitalized but by that time it was too late – Valentino died August 24, 1926.
Doctor Meeker, the surgeon that operated on Valentino, and his two assisting physicians, A.A. Jaller and Golden Rhind Battey issued statements to the press: 'Rudolph Valentino died from a perforated gastric ulcer and inflamed appendix with resultant peritonitis.'
When the news got out that Valentino was dead thousands of fans crowded the streets of mid Manhattan. Mass hysteria and mob violence was avoided by the quick response of the New York Police Department's mounted police. But in spite of their quick action there was some damage done to the Campbell Funeral Home.
Over night the crowd settled down and when directed they lined up four abreast and the line extended for four blocks. Then in an orderly fashion the mourners were allowed to come into the funeral parlor and walk past Valentino's casket.
Due to the star's huge following in the New York area a funeral mass was arranged to be held at Saint Malachy's Catholic Church located on West 49th Street in the theater district.
However the funeral mass was delayed for a week waiting for the arrival of Valentino's brother, Alberto Guglielme from Italy and his great friend and one time lover Pola Negri from California.
Once they arrived the funeral mass took place on September 1st after which his casket was put on the train for Los Angeles.
A second funeral was held at the Catholic Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills. And on September 7th Rudolph Valentino was interred at the Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery in a crypt furnished by his good friend June Mathis.
(To be continued.
For Valentino slide show and video clips Click Here

'Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone'
Excerpt from Spicer hearing, Wyatt Earp continues his testimony.
"Ike Clanton was all for them being captured,” Wyatt, declared, “he said Leonard claimed a ranch that he’d claimed. And if he could get him out of the way then he would be able to take the ranch. Clanton said the three outlaws would never be taken alive. He wanted me to find out if the reward would be paid for the capture of the robbers -- dead or alive. I then went to the agent of Wells Fargo in this town and at my request he telegraphed his superintendent at San Francisco about the reward conditions. In June, Marshall Williams received a telegram confirming the fact that the reward would be paid -- Dead or Alive!
I passed that information on to Ike Clanton and Joe Hill. It was agreed that Joe Hill would go over to where Leonard, Head and Crane were hid over near Eureka in New Mexico and lure them in near Frank and Tom McLowry's ranch. I said I would be on hand with a posse and capture them. Before starting, Joe Hill took off his watch and chain and between two and three hundred dollars in money and gave it to Virgil Earp to keep for him until he got back."
"Joe Hill was gone about ten days and returned with the word that he had got there one day too late.” Wyatt paused and then lamented, “Billy Leonard and Harry Head had been killed the day before he got there. After that, Ike Clanton and Frank McLowry claimed that I had given them away to Marshall Williams and Doc Holliday. Soon we began to hear of their threats against us ”
Then he nodded toward Doc and said, "I am a friend of Doc Holliday’s. When I was Marshall of Dodge City he came, to my rescue and saved my life.”
A wry grin crossed Doc’s face as he recalled that afternoon in Dodge City when Wyatt got himself cornered by a bunch of hardened cowboy’s led by Ed Morrison and Tobe Driskill.
Wyatt straightened his papers and took a sip of water. "On the 25th of October, Doc met Ike Clanton in the Alhambra lunch room and ask him about it. They argued and later on Ike Clanton told me that when Holliday approached him in the lunchroom that he was not fixed just right. He said that in the morning he would have man for man and that this fighting talk had been going on for a long time and he guessed, it was about time to fetch it to a close. I told him I would fight no one if I could get away from it because there was no money in it.”
There was a light din of chatter and subdued chuckles heard throughout the courtroom. The somber Wyatt Earp had pulled off a joke without realizing it.
"Ike walked off saying, 'I will be ready for all of you in the morning.’ I walked over to the Oriental, he followed me in and took a drink, having his six-shooter on and saying, 'You must not think I won't be after you all in the morning.' He said he would like to make a fight with Holliday now. I told him Holliday did not want to fight, but only to satisfy him that this talk had not been made.
Shortly after that I met Holliday on the street between the Oriental and Alhambra. Myself and Holliday walked down Allen Street, he going to his hotel and I to my house to bed.”
Judge Spice banged his gavel and said, "Court is in recess until one o'clock."
(To be continued)

Writers Notebook:
Coming on the heels of the Keystone Cops is a timely observation made by one of Broadway’s most prolific comedy writers. Neil Simon develops character first, and then plot. But he has said on a number of occasions that the main force that drives his comedy is conflict.

Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter.
Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.www.tombarnes39.com
www.RocktheTower.com
http://thehurricanehunter.blogspot.com

Warner Brothers, MGM and Sam Goldwyn

This Week
Let's go to the Movies and Rin Tin Tin
Wyatt Earp testifies at Spicer hearing
Writers Notebook: Somerset Maugham


Hollywood Silents 1914-1929 (Part 11)
During the mid 20's there was a lot of sorting out of studios, production companies, and producers. Warner Brothers, Sam Goldwyn and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer were the main players.
Warner Brothers, one of Hollywood's most famous studios, was founded in 1923 by four brothers: Jack, Sam, Harry And Albert Warner. Although the brothers never seemed to get along with each other Warner Brothers Studio managed to produce some of the most memorable movies in the history of Hollywood.
Warner Brothers Studio was originally located at 5800 Sunset Blvd. Right in the heart of Hollywood just a few blocks east of DeMille's Yellow Barn where the Squaw Man was made and not far from Gower Gulch and Paramount Studios.
Warner's first true success was a short 'Where the North Begins' starring the the famous dog, that came out of World War I, Rin Tin Tin.
But Rin Tin Tin wasn't the only success to come out of those early days. Darryl F. Zanuck, later to become one of Hollywood's top producers, came out of that early Warner Brothers experience. (There was another more profound event that happened at that studio in 1927, which we talk about next week.)

Sam Goldwyn was never a part of the famous MGM Studio that used his name and original logo. Leo the lion and the Goldwyn name were left over from the old Goldwyn Pictures when he sold his interest in the company to Metro Films. Sam Goldwyn was a corner stone of MGM, but Sam was long gone before Marcus Loew and Louis B. Mayer formed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer out in Culver City.
MGM headed by Louis B. Mayer moved into its headquarters in 1924 and over the next several years the studio grew faster and signed more stars than any other Los Angeles area production company.

Sam Goldwyn had been a part of several production companies Lasky Famous Players, Paramount, the Goldwyn Company, which was acquired by Marcus Loew to be part of his Metro Pictures.
Sam apparently marched to a different drummer and eventually set up his own company Samuel Goldwyn Studios on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood. Sam Goldwyn did it his way and produced quality and successful films for the next 35 years.

Using Variety's reviews as a benchmark some of the notable films of 1924 and 1925.
Beau Brummell 1924 Warner Brothers: Variety panned the film, the cast John Barrymore and Mary Astor and director Harry Beaumont.
The Big Parade 1925 MGM: Variety gives high marks to director King Vidor, and said, 'John Gilbert's performance is a superb thing...' 'Teamwork has made this picture. It makes 'em, laugh, cry, and it thrills – plenty. Besides which the captions are an example and a lesson for how it should be done.'
The Eagle 1925 UA: Rudolph Valentino, Vilma Blanky and Louise Dresser. The cast and film win approval from Variety with special high marks for Louise Dresser.
The Gold Rush 1925 UA: Charlie Chaplin carries this rags to riches story off with ease and gives his audience a long look at the Chaplin genius.
The Navigator 1924 Metro-Goldwyn: Buster Keaton's stoic face and physical comedy make up for the lack of a story line. Keaton scores in spite of a bad script.
The Phantom of the Opera 1925 Universal: According to Variety's review the film is dull along with Lon Chaney's performance. Not one of Chaney's best.
The Sea Hawk 1924 First National: Milton Sills, Enid Bennett and Wallace Beery bring the story to life from the first reel according to Variety and they keep the action at a high level throughout the film.
Sherlock, Jr. 1924 Keaton/Metro: Variety pans. 'This Buster Keaton feature length comedy is about as unfunny as a hospital operating room.' The reviewer seems to think that it did have one clever moment toward the end of the film, but he concludes 'The rest is bunk.'
Stella Dallas 1925 Goldwyn/UA: Bella Bennett, Ronald Coleman, Alice Joyce, Jean Hersholt and Lois Moran are the players that Henry King directs in Frances Marion's scenario. King tells the story simply and directly. The two outstanding performances are turned in by Bella Bennett and Lois Moran.
Thief of Bagdad 1924 Fairbanks/UA: Director Raoul Walsh takes his audience on a fantasy, fairytale and keeps them suspended in aw for a 155 minutes with his picture version of the Arabian Nights. Douglas Fairbanks and Anna May Wong win honors for their acting roles.
Ben-Hur 1925 MGM: Director Fred Niblo, producer Louis B. Mayer, Irving Thalberg. Scenario; Bess Meredyth, Casey Wilson, June Mathis, Katherine Hilliker, H.H. Caldwell.
Cast; Ramon Navarro, Francis X. Bushman, May McAvoy, Betty Bronson, Carmel Myers.
Excerpts from Variety review. 'Ben Hur is a picture that rises above spectacle, even though it is spectacle. On the screen it isn't the chariot race or the great battle scenes between the fleet of Rome and the pirate galley's of Golthar. It is the tremendous heart throbs that one experiences leading to those scenes that make them great...'
'As to individual performances: First the Mary of Betty Bronson. It is without doubt the most tremendous individual score that any actress has ever made, with but a single scene, a couple of close ups. And in the color scenes she appears simply superb...'.
'Then as to Ramon Navarro: anyone that sees him in this picture will have to admit that he is without doubt a man's man and one hundred percent of that. Francis X. Bushman does a comeback in the role of the heavy, Messala that makes him stand alone...'
Also the rest of the cast received their individual plaudits for jobs well done.
Film clips:
The Eagle 1925 for video Click Here
The Thief of Bagdad 1924 for video Click Here
Ben Hur 1925 MGM for video Click Here
(To be continued)

Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone'
Excerpt from Spicer hearing. Wyatt Earp continues his testimony.

"Overruled," Judge Spicer snapped, "Continue Mr. Earp.”
Wyatt said, "About one month after that I met Frank and Tom McLowry in Charleston. They tried to pick a fuss out of me down there and told me that if I ever followed them up again as close as I did before, they would kill me. The first incident that had to do with the Clanton’s was back when myself and Doc Holliday happened to go to Charleston. We went there for the purpose of getting a horse that had been stolen from me.”
Wyatt then directed a stare at Ike Clanton before saying, "I had heard that the Clanton's had him. I was told by a friend that the man who carried the dispatch from Charleston to Ike Clanton's ranch had rode my horse. I filed papers about the
stolen horse and some days later heard the animal was in a Charleston corral. I proceeded from Tombstone to Charleston, went to said corral and found my horse. Billy Clanton was there and tried to intercede by taking the horse away, but I stopped him. After seeing the papers, Billy backed off and gave up the horse. Following this he made the comment, asking me, ‘If I had anymore horses to lose."
Wyatt frowned. "Bud Philpot was killed by those men who tried to rob the Benson stage. And as a detective I helped to trace the matter up, and I was satisfied that
three men, named Billy Leonard, Harry Head and Jim Crane were in on that robbery. I knew that Leonard, Head and Crane were friends and associates of the Clanton’s and McLowry’s. It was generally understood among officers and those who know about criminals that Ike Clanton was a chief amongst the cowboys. That the Clanton’s and McLowry’s were cattle thieves and generally in the secrets of the stage robbers and that
the Clanton and McLowry ranches were meeting places for the gang.”
Wyatt stopped talking for a few moments, looked out at the gallery and said earnestly, "I wanted to run for sheriff of this county. And I thought it would be of great help to me, with the people and business community if I could capture the men who killed Philpot. There were rewards of almost twelve hundred dollars each for the capture of the robbers Leonard, Head and Crane."
"I would like to point out that the name Holliday was not mentioned in that group. Doc Holliday had nothing to do with that tragedy”
Then in a sober business-like tone Wyatt said, "I went to Ike Clanton, Frank McLowry and Joe Hill when they came in town. I talked to them in the back yard of the Oriental Saloon. I told them what I wanted. I said I wanted the glory of capturing Leonard, Head and Crane and if I could do that, it would help me make the race for sheriff. I said if they would put me in a position to capture those three -- they would get all the reward.”
(To Be Continued)


Writers Notebook:

Somerset Maugham:
‘Truth is not only stranger than fiction it is more telling. To know that a thing actually happened gives it poignancy, touches a chord, which a piece of acknowledged fiction misses. It is to touch this chord that some authors have done everything they could to give you the impression that they are telling the plain truth.’
Truman Capote would probably agree and point to his nonfiction ‘In Cold Blood.’
Hemingway might disagree and go back to his general stand that in fiction you’ll find more real truth than in nonfiction.
As a bystander, I’d just like to see the debate.

Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter.
Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.www.tombarnes39.com
www.RocktheTower.com
http://hurricanehunter.blogspot.com





.

20's Scandals, Ten Commandments and Christmas Time

This Week
Let's go to the Movies: Hollywod Scandals
Writers Notebook: Christmas Time

Hollywood Silents 1914-1929 (Part 10)

During the early 20's two headline grabbing scandals hit the Hollywood film community and they were both major and tragic. In September of 1921 Fatty Arbuckle was accused of rape and in February 1922 popular film director William Desmond Taylor was murdered in his apartment.
The Arbuckle case was a tragedy on two levels, a young actress Virginia Rappe died several day after attending an Arbuckle party. The second tragedy was the lie that doomed Fatty Arbuckle's film career.
Arbuckle and two of his pals, actor Lowell Sherman and cameraman Fred Fischbach threw a party for some of their friends at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco. One of the guests, an aspiring actress, Virginia Rappe drank too much during the evening and became seriously ill. The hotel doctor was called and he concluded her symptoms were mostly caused by intoxication and gave her morphine to calm her.
Ms. Rappe was not hospitalized until two days after the incident. The morning following the party a rumor was started, by Maude Delmont, that Arbuckle had raped her friend. And even after Ms. Rappe's own physician found no evidence of rape Maud Delmont continued the lie by telling the police and others that Fatty Arbuckle had raped her friend.
One day after Virginia Rappe was admitted to the hospital she died of peritonitis caused by a ruptured bladder.
Following her death bold headlines continued the lie that misled the whole country into believing that Fatty Arbuckle was a rapist and a monster.
Gossip columns printed stories that he had used ice to evoke sex while others indicated that a coke or champagne bottle had been used on the victim. There were no facts, but the gossip and rumors made titillating stories for their readers.
Arbuckle endured three manslaughter trials and was eventually acquitted by a jury and given a written apology. But the big lie had done so much damage that even when the truth came out – Arbuckle's career was finished. The scandal had taken its tole and he never got back to his work or won the praise for what he had done as a pioneer comedian in Hollywood motion pictures.

William Desmond Taylor directed more than fifty films and was at one time the president of The Motion Picture Directors Association. He directed some of the great stars of the era including Mary Pickford, Wallace Reid, Dustin Farnum and Mary Miles Minter.
At 7:30 am on the morning of February 2, 1922 the body of William Desmond Taylor was found inside his bungalow at the Alvarado Court Apartments in the Westlake Park area of Los Angeles. The forty nine year old film director had been shot in the back. An exact motive for the killing was never established although there was a sizable amount of cash known to be missing from his apartment.
During the course of the investigation sex became part of the story and more than a dozen individuals were eventually named as suspects. Newspaper reports at the time were sensational, speculative and sometimes fabricated in order to add intrigue to the murder.
Since the case was never solved, many of the stories in true crime fiction through the years have managed to keep the William Desmond Taylor murder case and the Hollywood scandal alive.

But even during those high profile scandals Hollywood managed to produce some memorable films.
Blood and Sand a Paramount Film with Rudolph Valentino.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame, a Universal Film, with Lon Chaney. That was one of the most memorable films of the silent era because "The Man of a Thousand Faces," Lon Chaney gave one of the most powerful performances of his career.
For video clip of the Hunchback Click Here

The Prisoner of Zenda a Metro Film with Lewis Stone and Alice Terry.

And Cecil B. DeMille's first really big film, The Ten Commandments, for Paramount Pictures with Theodore Roberts, Estelle Taylor and Richard Dix.
The film won high approval from Variety.
'The opening Biblical scenes of the Ten Commandments are irresistible in their assembly, breadth, color and direction; they are enormous and just as attractive. Cecil B. DeMille puts in a thrill with the opening of the Red Sea for Moses to pass through with the children of Israel...' And the review continues to praise the film.
For a video clip of the 1923 Ten Commandants Click Here
(To Be Continued)

Writers Notebook:

Christmas Time:
Twas the Night Before Christmas, and I’m Dreaming of, Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire, Sleigh Bells Ring, Deck the Halls With Boughs of Holly, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Do You Hear What I Hear, Oh Little Town of Bethlehem, Hark The Herald Angels Sing, Joy To The World, A Child is Born, and it’s Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas, Oh Come All Ye Faithful, It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year, and Jolly Old Saint Nick, more rapid than eagles his coursers they came; and he whistled and shouted and called them by name; ‘Now, Dasher! Now Dancer! Now Prancer and Vixen! On, Comet! On, Cupid! On Donner and Blitzen! To the top of the porch! To the top of the wall! Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!’ and I heard him exclaim er he drove out of sight, “Happy Christmas to All and to All a Goodnight.”


How Did the Wise Men Know?
By
Lenora Smalley
I pondered the manger on the mantle-
porcelain figures poured in flowing lines,
Mary, face encased in a blue draped shawl
reaches out to the baby in the crèche,
shepherd, cape turned back in haste
holds a lamb across his chest,
Joseph lifting a lamp leans forward
to get a  closer peek , surrounded
by cattle- oxen, donkey and sheep,
--and three wise men, so reverent
in purple, ermine-trimmed traveling robes
bring gifts of myrrh, frankincense and gold.
How did the wise men know?
How did they know which star to follow?
How did they know which road to take?
In those days gold was the gift given to a King,
frankincense was meant for One called divine.
And myrrh? Myrrh was used for wounds and pain.
How did they know which gifts to bring?

Tom Barnes -- Actor, Writer and Hurricane Hunter.
Check out my website for books, blogs, western legends, a literary icon, reviews and interviews. Also my novels The Goring Collection and Doc Holliday’s Road to Tombstone along with a non fiction remembrance of The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.Www.tombarnes39.com

www.RocktheTower.com

http://thehurricanehunter.blogspot.com